Machine for processing thermoplastic hosiery



Sept. 15, 1953 H. s. DRUM ETAL MACHINE FOR PROCESSING TI'IERMOPLASTIC HOISERY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 16, 1952 lNgEbg'OR arr ru Wzifjam Dodson ATTORNEY.

p 1953 H. s. DRUM ET AL 2,651,932

MACHINE FOR PROCESSING THERMOPLASTIC HOISERY Filed April 16, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III...

INVENTOR arry J. Drum WzlZz'am C. 00419022.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 15,

MACHINE FOR PROCESSING THERMO- PLASTIC HOSIERY Harry S. Drum and William C. Dodson, Abington, Pa., assignors to Smith, Drum & Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsyl- Vania Application April 16, 1952, Serial No. 282,606

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to the processing or" thermo-plastic hosiery and more particularly to a machine wherein stockings which have been preset on metal boards and are removed from the boards enter the machine to be treated, dyed and finished therein and leave the machine ready for inspection and packaging.

In the manufacture of hosiery of the synthetic type, as heretofore practiced, there are two methods in present day use, both of which require two or more handlings of the stockings and the use of skilled operators.

In one of these methods the knitted stockings are preset on boards individually and after presetting have to be pulled 01f of the boards by hand and bundled in dozen lots in a muslin wrapper and placed in a net bag. These bags are now placed in a dyeing machine where they are dyed and a finish applied. When this operation is completed they are removed from the dyeing machine and transferred to a mechanical extractor to remove excess liquid. After extracting, the operator removes the stockings by hand from the nets, takes off the muslin wrapping and pulls each stocking by hand onto a heated hosiery form for drying. In some hosiery plants the bundling and wrapping in muslin is dispensed with and the stockings dropped into the dye nets in loose form.

In another form, known as the Dunn system,

the stockings as received from the knitting machine are hung in a conditioning chamber or cabinet where they are exposed to steam for the presetting operation. After removal from the cabinet, the stockings are then prepared for dyeing in either of the two ways of the first method, after which each stocking is reboarded, that is, pulled by hand onto an individual form for final finishing. Again after this finishing each stocking is pulled off of its board by hand.

Both of the foregoing methods have inherent disadvantages which manufacturers have tried to eliminate, without success, since the introduction of nylon and synthetic fibres. Primarily the trouble lies in the handling of the stockings during the process of manufacture, each such handling increasing the danger of damage to the stockings. Any abrasion of the skin of the operators hands causes a snag or a pick in the stocking being handled, which then becomes a second, reducing production and increasing loss. In some hosiery mills seconds run as high as forty percent of a days output. The chances of such damage are multiplied by boarding, netting and unnetting, reboarding, and final unboarding, all hand 2 operations. Also, even skilled operators vary the pulling effort on the stockings and the result is a variation in the length of the stocking. Furthermore, constant supervision is required to see that the net bags and forms are kept clean, and

these must be cleaned on an everage of once' every two or three hours because any adhering compound will cause damage to the fabric and produce seconds.

Some of the objects of the present invention are: to provide a machine operating as a single unit for dyeing, finishing, and drying thermoplastic hosiery as arranged one upon another in a flat stack, such hosiery having been previously preset on metal form boards and removed from the boards for stacking and treating; to provide a hosiery-treating machine to operate upon a stack of preset stockings in a continuous succession of operations to result in finished stockings ready for inspecting and packaging when the stack is removed from the machine; to provide a hosierytreating machine which produces a finished stocking while eliminating the usual netting and unnetting of the stockings, the use of a separate extractor, the hand reboarding for drying, and the final hand unboarding; to provide a machine for processing nylon and other synthetic stockings as a continuous operation without requiring metal forms or boards for drying and finishing, thus eliminating damage caused b the handling and rehandling necessary with such boards; to provide a hosiery-treating machine wherein seconds or damaged stockings are reduced to a minimum; and to provide other objects and advantages as will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. l represents a plan of a stocking-treating machine embodying one form of the present invention, with the cover removed; Fig. 2 represents a section on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 represents a fragmentary vertical section on an enlarged scale show- 1ng one tray unit as mounted in the treating chamber; Fig. 4 represents an enlarged detail in plan showing the tray box guide and lift mechanism as associated with the machine casing; Fig. 5 represents a detail section on line 5--5 of Fig. 4 showing the guide and lift mechanism; and Fig. 6 represents a perspective partly broken away of a stocking-loaded tray.

Referring to the drawings, one form of the present invention comprises a casing it, preferably generally rectangular in shape, which is open at the top and forms a treating chamber i i, access to which is had by the removal of a C101 shaped cover l2 which is normally sealed by When the dyeing is completed, the chamber is emptied by opening the drain valve 2|, after which the valve 2| is closed and the valve 23 is opened to introduce finishing compound for circulation by the impeller 24 through the stacks of stockings for the required cycle of operation. The chamber 1 l is now drained of the compound, which is replaced by wash water, either hot or cold, after which the extracting and drying cycles follow in succession. Having drawn off the wash water, the drain valve 2i remains open, the flap valve 32 is closed, and the valve 3| opened to admit air for extracting excess liquid from the stockings. Thi extracting air is circulated at relatively high velocity in order to create an efiective extracting pressure by means of which all surface moisture is carried off. The stockings are now in condition for drying, and it is preferable to introduce heated air at a relatively low velocity to leave the stockings in dried finished condition, ready, upon removal from the treating chamber, for inspection and packaging. This removal is accomplished by mechanical lifting of each box of trays from the machine, as will be understood.

Having thus described our claim:

1. A machine for treating synthetic stockings which have been preset on boards, removed from the boards and arranged flat to form a stack of superposed stockings, comprising a casing and removable closure forming a closed chamber, a partition vertically disposed in said chamber forming a by-pass duct opening into the upper portion of said chamber, an apertured false bottom in said chamber mounted in spaced relation to the casing bottom, a plurality of trays arranged in superposed relation and supported by said false bottom, each tray having a pervious bottom supporting a stack of preset stockings, a fitting forming an outlet from the bottom of said chamber, a pipe connecting said fitting with said duct to form with said chamber a path for a invention, we

6 treating medium, and means for successively circulating dye liquor, liquid finishing compound and air in said path, whereby said stockings are dyed, finished, extracted and dried ready for inspection and packaging.

2. A machine for treating synthetic stockings in accordance with claim 1, wherein valve means selects a different circulating path for air than for the liquid, medium.

3. A machine for treating synthetic stockings which have been preset on boards, removed from the boards, and arranged flat in superposed relation to form a stack, comprising a casing having a concave bottom provided with an outlet, a removable dome top for said casing, a partition vertically disposed in said casing and forming a duct for treating mediums, a tubular fitting leading from said outlet, a pipe formin a communication between said fitting and said duct, a motor-driven impeller for circulating liquid through said duct and chamber, a drain valve for said fitting, a stack of stocking-loaded trays having pervious bottoms respectively, and means for mounting said stack in said chamber in the path of said circulation.

4. A machine in accordance with claim 3, wherein a valve-controlled inlet for air under pressure communicates with said duct, and a flap valve is located between said inlet and the fitting.

HARRY S. DRUM. WILLIAM C. DODSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 509,351 Maertens Nov. 21, 1893 905,473 Smith et al. Dec. 1, 1908 1,266,108 Dudley May 14, 1918 FQREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 7,306 Great Britain Mar. 27, 1907 

